BBC launches Video on Demand player for parents

For the next 6 months, BBC Television is giving people more control over what they watch and when they watch, by allowing viewers access to tips and clips from hit BBC parenting shows, via a new Parenting Video on Demand player.

In what is seen by industry pundits as a trial to bigger and better things, Jana Bennett, BBC Director of Television, commented: "In the future, people are going to be watching TV programmes in many different ways.”

The BBC is offering bite-size, video clips from hit BBC shows such as Child of Our Time and Little.

Introduced by Melinda Messenger, and featuring video clips offering expert commentary and advice from Professor Robert Winston and Dr Tanya Byron, Parenting Video On Demand aims to put mums and dads in control as they search by topic, age, or programme to find the specific parenting information they need.

From January until June, Parenting Video on Demand can be accessed at any time, free of charge, by any UK resident with a computer and a broadband connection.

Users will be able to select clips from 70 hours of video in total - 90 video "journeys" or video stories covering the early years (up to the age of 5) from conception and birth to discipline, and the first day at school.